The Barbie films and their plots center on Barbie as the singular CGI main character, and often frame Barbie as a modern girl telling the story to one of her sisters or a younger friend. The 35th film, Barbie: Video Game Hero from 2017, marked the last time that the series aired on television. For the following 15 years, Barbie movies were released both on DVD and as TV specials on Nickelodeon. The next year, the franchise made its television debut on Nickelodeon with the second movie, Barbie as Rapunzel.
The series began in 2001 with the direct-to-video release of Barbie in the Nutcracker. Since 2017, they have instead been available on streaming services. From 2002 to 2017, the films were aired regularly on the Nickelodeon cable channel. The Barbie film series is a franchise of animated films featuring Barbie, a fashion doll manufactured by American toy company Mattel.